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When the gun fires Sunday morning for the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon, with the race again serving as the USA Marathon Championship for Open and Masters runners, it will mark the 25th running of the event. With a new title sponsor and burgeoning fields in its various races, Running USA wire's Charlie Mahler talked to Twin Cities Marathon Executive Director Virginia Brophy Achman about the event.
You've been the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Executive Director for two years now, is the job what you thought it would be?
I have been Executive Director for two years and Race Director four years prior. The technical and administrative parts I knew well, but the opportunities to share the values and direction of the marathon have far surpassed my expectations.
What about the executive director job has surprised you?
The impact we have outside of the running community. As race director, your focus is on just that, the race. As executive director, you have more freedom to explore new ideas and create partnerships in the community.
You have been involved with Twin Cities for a long time. What have been the main changes to the event and to marathoning that you've seen?
From our organizations perspective, we have tried to grow our events, yet keep the event safe. Our course is limited in size for several reasons, including congestion, so we have had to come up with creative ways to add participants to the field. We collected two years of data on the course and implemented the wave start as a measure to reduce course congestion and allow us to add additional runners to the field.
I think our events reflect the continued growth the sport has seen in the past few years. There are more and more everyday participants out there hitting the roads and in particular, women. Our ten-mile and 5K races have more female participants than male. That is a trend running is experiencing at all distances.
Twin Cities has a new title sponsor and seems to be doing very well with its other sponsorships. What do you attribute that progress to?
Our event is highly visible in the community and associated with positive, healthy lifestyles. As an industry, we have a demographic that most others can't match. We also work very hard to develop and grow our partnerships and we are fortunate to have long term relationships with local and national sponsors.
In the spectrum of marathoning - from the household names like Boston and New York to smaller events across the country - where do you think Twin Cities fits? What's your niche?
We continue to be in the top ten for marathon finishers because of the beautiful course, from the lakes and trees, to the 250,000 plus spectators and 5,000 hospitable volunteers. We put on a well organized, world-class event, steeped in tradition and history, which continually draws repeat runners.
From a race perspective, we continue to host national championships. We strongly support the training efforts of the post-collegiate athletes, by sponsoring Team USA Minnesota and the USA Distance Project.
The self-declared "Big Five" marathons have taken steps to raise the profile of the sport and set themselves apart. Has that helped or hurt Twin Cities?
It helps us because it gives the sport high visibility and we all benefit from the additional exposure.
Are mid-sized marathons like Twin Cities doing things in association with one-another like the "Big Five?"
As a top ten race, we try to network with other races and support their efforts, by providing exposure for them. It's important to support the sport. We do things like trade expo booth space and packet stuffers, to maximize exposure. Once our registration closes, we list alternative races in the fall on our website, so we don't loose those runners to other activities.
What's new for Twin Cities this year?
* We are celebrating our 25th Anniversary and honoring our Charter Club members. We have 66 participants who have run all 24 of our races.
* TCM, Inc. has added a title sponsor, Medtronic, which is a first in the history of our organization.
* With Medtronic as our partner, we are focusing on the growth of our Family Events, including the creation of the Medtronic TC Kids Marathon Program. We are reaching out to families, schools, and park and recreation programs to build a year round youth running program. Our pilot program this summer included over 500 kids from the Minneapolis and St. Paul Park and Recreation Programs.
* We are focusing our efforts in the neighborhoods along the course with the creation of Cheers Zones. We have created a contest out on the course, dividing the course into five year segments, within each five miles of the course, and inviting the spectators to put together a party zone that reflects that designated period of time. The top three parties will be rewarded with cash prizes that will be donated to churches or schools in the winning neighborhoods.
* This past year, we became a proud Silver Sponsor of the USA Distance Project.
* Partnering with Medtronic, we have been able to significantly increase our fundraising efforts for our community partners. This year our focus is on non-profit organizations that focus on youth fitness and health issues.
What are the upcoming changes and challenges for Twin Cities in the near future?
We really want to focus our growth in our youth programs, with the introduction of the Medtronic TC Kids Marathon and we will continue to enhance our relationship with Medtronic, by expanding our current programs. We continue to develop our newest companion event, the Medtronic TC 1 Mile held in April. We like the urban, downtown feel, but we also want to include audiences like children. We will be looking at ways to grow this event and get the message out there for new runners to take their first steps in the spring with us.
Our greatest challenge, is managing the popularity of our events. When we turn away 3,200 people in the ten-mile race and fill the marathon in 15 days, we are always asking ourselves, how can we grow and maintain a safe race.
Did Twin Cities not being awarded either Olympic Marathon Trials adversely affect your long-term planning for the event?
We learned a lot from the application process and we will continue to develop our application for the 2012 Trials bid. We need to create a stronger national media presence.
What one thing would you want people unfamiliar with Twin Cities to know about your event?
We are the most beautiful urban marathon, a well-organized race, with over 250,000 spectators lining the course. You will never take a step alone on the course.
One of the biggest misconceptions is the weather. We are not cold year round. We have great weather in October for racing. Generally speaking, at the start the temperatures are in the 30s and the end of the race they are in the 50s. Minneapolis / St. Paul are great destination cities, and people are pleasantly surprised by its urban charm.
And finally, who's going to win your race on Sunday?
We have a deep field this year. Because we always have such great up-and-coming runners competing, as well as added favorites like Ryan Shay and Marla Runyan, each year we have an exciting race that could turn into anyone's day.
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